Duncan Weir looks to clinch play-off place and Scotland No 10 jersey

The former Cathkin High pupil is friends with youngsters at Celtic and Rangers, having grown up in Cambuslang and played for Kilmarnock and Celtic at youth level. But he switched back to rugby at 16 and has never looked back.

Having settled into a pro career at Glasgow Warriors, played understudy to Ruaridh Jackson and begun to learn that there is more to running a game of rugby than confidence and a big boot, Weir is preparing for his 21st birthday next week by edging closer to a Test start. Jackson started the World Cup as Scotland’s first-choice fly-half, but lost his spot to Dan Parks through injury, before returning to the squad in the recent RBS Six Nations Championship and finding his return to the starting berth blocked by Edinburgh’s Greig Laidlaw.

Back at the Warriors he has slipped behind Weir in the pecking order in recent weeks and there is now a clear three-way battle for the Scotland jersey on the upcoming summer tour to Australia, Fiji and Samoa.

Weir shrugs. He knows that may be the case, but after making his Test debut off the bench against France, only to be dropped out of the squad on Jackson’s return for the next game, he is not counting any chickens. His focus is simply on leading Glasgow to victory over an increasingly-tough Connacht side tomorrow night to keep the No 10 shirt for the play-offs the following weekend.

“That is all I can focus on,” he agreed. “Obviously, the summer tour is on the back-burner but playing well for Glasgow is the main focus. If I can do that then I would be in a position to put my hand up for selection and if we can win this weekend and get into the play-offs and do well there, which I know we’re capable of doing when we play the way we can, then we will all be able to turn some heads.

“But Connacht is going to be tough. Watching the football this week you see Chelsea losing to Newcastle and people who haven’t watched Connacht maybe don’t realise how well they’re playing. They’re not blessed with the big names of Leinster or Munster, but they have a great team spirit and have had some cracking results in the league and in the Heineken Cup.”

The stage is set for an unprecedented weekend of rugby in Scotland’s largest city with the HSBC World Sevens Series carnival rolling into Scotstoun tomorrow, and a new enclosed stadium complete with temporary stands, and supporters buses (£2) and special tickets being sold to take people from Scotstoun to Firhill for the crunch match with Connacht.

The sevens are just 3,000 short of the 15,000 capacity on both days and the Glasgow game has already attracted the biggest pre-sale of tickets (just over 4,000) for a Warriors Pro12 home match outside of the 1872 Cup derby against Edinburgh.

This will be the final game to be played at what has become a popular home ground for Glasgow, with the SRU ending its agreement with Partick Thistle FC and moving to Scotstoun from the summer. It also marks the end of an era with coaches Sean Lineen and Gary Mercer leaving the club along with a host of players.